Houston Pickets

The Houston club where Margaret is working out material for her new show this weekend (Feb. 6-7) has been asked to fire her or expect pickets to take place outside the club. Here is the letter the club in Houston received:

daniel vela wrote:
Hello,

The Young Conservatives of Texas* and the Houston Young Republicans Committee would like you to remove Margaret Cho from this Friday and Saturdays show. We along with many Americans feel she made unnecessary and vulgar comments about the United States and our president during a speech for Moveon.org. We would like you to consider theses wishes. We have 75 people Friday and 93 people Saturday who will be there at the Improv to either enjoy the replacement for Margaret or Picketing her show in front of the Improv. Please contact if you can accommodate our wishes,

Daniel Riley
Young Conservatives of Texas

* We got a letter from a Howard A. Hickman, who says he is an attorney for The Young Conservatives of Texas, stating that Daniel Riley does NOT represent them nor is he a member. He said that Daniel Riley has been sent a cease and desist letter.

Here is the letter Margaret previously received from this same person which is posted along with other racist and homophobic emails here:

—– Original Message —–
From: daniel vela
To: karen
Cc: margaret
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 6:43 AM
Subject: wang chung

Please forward to Margaret

Dear chung lee,
Please go back where you came from. We don’t need anymore people like you in this country. I hope you have aids and pass it to all your liberal commie homo friends. Your a slut and a lard ass. Please take Rosie O’donnel back home with u, I’m sure yall will have a lot of fun together eating sushi and having dildo fights. Stupid ninja

Aids Cures Gays

This letter, written by the manager of the club, is in response to the Feb. 5 letter from Daniel Riley (aka Daniel Vela):

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 05:39:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Mark Babbitt
Subject: Re: Margaret Cho
To: daniel vela

Thank you for your interest. The Margaret Cho shows are for those who want to exercise their freedom to pay the $27 ticket price and see her performance. We do not believe in forcing anybody to listen to anything or be subjected to harrassment for making a decision to enjoy an evening of what they consider to be entertainment. The people joining us in the showroom will all be there to ‘quietly’ enjoy an hour and a half of comedy performed by the person they paid to see.

Ms. Cho’s political beliefs and how she chooses to express them are her affair and not an issue with us. We are an entertainment facility which tries to supply the community with entertainment that is in demand and we cater to all ethnic groups, religious groups and age groups over 18.

The tone of your email is a little bit threatening and I’m sure you did not mean it to be so. I’m sure that as patriotic Americans active in the political process you understand that people hold different viewpoints about different issues. And I’m sure that you can undedrstand that booking Margaret Cho was not a political decision any more than booking any other act.

Ms Cho’s appearance here is not for any political organization and therefore not a political activity. If you choose to picket you will be bringing attention to her appearance and viewpoints and therefore advancing whatever agenda she might have to a greater extent than your own. You might find that another activity would be a better use of your energies.

Thank you for your interest in our venue and I hope you find a show you will want to attend here in the future. I respect your political activities and I hope you will respect our activities for what they are – Purely Entertainment and non-political.

Sincerely,

Mark Babbitt
General Manager